With the nation trudging through its worst economic times since bread lines and Hoovervilles, it might seem an odd time to start shopping for a new car. Or a new house. Or to take time away from scrounging up whatever money is left in the marketplace to chart a new course for your business or a new career for yourself.

But a recession like the one we have been mired in for more than a year now also offers opportunities, UCR experts say. Some are related to work and career goals that were never addressed during the boom times. Others involve getting back to the bedrock values that made us who we were in the first place.

The economy is in a state of flux. Consumers had the lowest perception of the nation’s economy since officials began keeping statistics in 1967. Fear is the currency of the day as anxious workers wonder what’s next: a rebound or a further dive toward rock bottom?

“We have, in large part, a cycle that is feeding on itself,” said David Stewart, dean of the A. Gary Anderson Graduate School of Management at UC Riverside. “People hear bad news about a friend getting laid off or a company failing, and that causes them to be more cautious — even if they have not lost their jobs — and that keeps the economy from recovering.”

Some analysts are predicting that the recession will last through the fall months and that unemployment will continue to rise through next year. But spring offered a few signs of hope, as news trickled in about higher-than-expected reports of home and auto sales, homebuilding and consumer spending.

The question is, what will we have to show for all this emotional trauma once the recession is over?

A Recession is a Terrible Thing to Waste
The paradox of an economic downturn is that it often is a great time to buy expensive things. Houses that many people could not afford three years ago are now sliding into the affordable range for them. Cars are a bargain, with low interest rates and a glut of inventory pushing prices down.

In business, smart companies will use the economic downturn as a chance to revamp and strengthen their long-term prospects for success.

“Recessions provide a rationale for restructuring, which may involve laying people off or doing business in a different way,” Stewart said. “When times are good, there is a natural tendency to avoid that discomfort, but you have no choice in an economic downturn.”

Such moves, said Richard Arnott, distinguished professor of economics, are part of what some refer to as the “cleansing effects of recession.”

“It washes out inefficient companies,” Arnott said. “And people who are not managing their finances, well, it teaches them a lesson. Now, that is harsh, but there is an element of truth there.”

Sadly, Stewart said, some companies will muddle through the recession, learning nothing and failing to take advantage of opportunities to set a new course.

“Some will manage to scrape by, not doing well but managing to survive. They will come out with the same problems, issues and lack of innovation that they went into the down economy with,” Stewart said. “Others will fail just as the economy starts to turn around because, at the very time that more customers are coming into the market, they will be out-priced by their lean and mean competitors.”

That restructuring process extends beyond private business to any institution that is invested in its future. UC Riverside, for example, has re-focused its efforts and is working to ensure that resources are available for strategically important programs, while also creating new opportunities to support the university’s growth and development.

Chancellor Timothy P. White pointed out that, in addition to producing important research on economic matters, UC Riverside is a major economic engine for the region and the state. The university’s economic impact is nearly $1.2 billion statewide. More than 70 percent of that activity benefits the Inland Empire region.

“Our strategic planning process will help us identify areas where we can make difficult but necessary reductions, while also pointing out critical areas where we must invest to ensure that we come out of the current economic downturn in a position to strengthen and build our core programs,” White said. “We will balance fiscal prudence with an abiding loyalty to the central mission of the university.”

White has sought to advance this decision-making process by ensuring that any potential solution results from open dialogue and honest communication. He has held a series of brown-bag discussions and town hall meetings to gather input from university stakeholders.

“While these are difficult times, I believe UC Riverside will emerge from this process a stronger and more focused university, one that is better prepared than ever to serve the educational needs of California,” White said. “Like many businesses and institutions, we do not intend to waste the valuable — if painful — lessons to be learned from
the current economic downturn.”

Role of the Media
With job losses mounting, even laymen are taking a greater interest in economic matters. But just determining when a recession begins and ends can be maddening, said Marcelle Chauvet, an associate professor of economics.

Economists sift through several drafts of data, but it takes months before revisions are completed and facts can be established.

For example, the recession of 2001 began in March and ended in November — the same month that government agencies announced that a recession was under way, Chauvet said. The end of that recession was not announced until July 2003.

Most economists agree that December 2007 was a “turning point” toward the current recession, Chauvet said. She felt certain of that fact by June 2008, based on a model she uses to predict when the risk of recession is greatest, although the date was not widely accepted for several more months.

The trickier question, of course, is determining when the recession is ending. Chauvet said her model indicates the nation could begin emerging from its current recession over the summer, although others expect it to last through the fall.

“We might even be out of the recession already, but not know it yet,” Chauvet said.

Public perception of how the economy is faring can be affected greatly by media coverage, said Chuck Whitney,a professor and chair of the Department of Creative Writing.

Economic issues dominate the news virtually every day, which can create an “echo chamber” that distorts reality, he said.

“It tends to amplify our decisions to not spend money and to instead save money, to take money out of the stock market and put it into savings,” Whitney said.

The media has a long and symbiotic relationship with economic news, said Toby Miller, a professor and chair of the Department of Media and Cultural Studies. As America’s fascination with wealth grew in the 1980s, the media began to reflect that shift in values. Writing about money in the 1990s became as important, if not more so, than writing about politics, Miller said.

“The media began to make large numbers of stories financial, in terms of their implications, in ways that had never been done before,” Miller said.

Sports stories still focused on athletic heroics and statistics, but the business of sports — salaries, team ownership, marketing — began demanding more attention. The media covered labor less and finance more, especially personal finance. Readers eager to catch the next financial wave clamored for information about the next big thing in investing.

“Trauma, tragedy and disaster are old staples of journalism. That said, financial journalism was so gung-ho that it created a booster climate that was completely inappropriate,” Miller said. “Now the media is trying to get back a sense of perspective.”

Despite a stream of bad news in the financial services and automotive sectors, some areas of the economy are doing quite well as behavioral changes inadvertently create pockets of prosperity, Stewart said.

Fast-food outlets are thriving as families swap out dinner at a sit-down restaurant for a less expensive meal together. McDonald’s Corp., for example, reported nearly a 4 percent increase in first-quarter profits.

More people are cooking at home, which has created boom times for spice manufacturers. DVD rentals are healthy as families have moved their movie nights into their own homes. Reinventing Ourselves One lesson of the recession is that many Americans still believe it is possible to reinvent one’s self, to turn a layoff into a new career path, despite all odds.

“That is the foundational myth for many of us who were migrants, and many of us who grew up here still believe in it,” Miller said.

This feeling is especially strong in California, Miller said, but the banking crisis has made it difficult for budding entrepreneurs to obtain financing for new ventures, which could tamp down the ability of workers to transition into new careers.

The key, Miller said, is for workers to look beyond the processes they mastered in their last jobs and focus on the skills they retained. Many workers have skills they do not realize they have, and they frequently do not know the value of those skills.

Recognizing his own skills helped Miller move among jobs in radio, government and banking before settling in academia.

“There are a lot of things that one does not necessarily do for pragmatic reasons, but are very valuable,” Miller said. “It is important to ask yourself, ‘What did I actually do in the job? Who do I know from that job and how do I network?’”

Reliable data is scarce, but anecdotal evidence suggests that worried workers are turning to UCR Extension, the continuing education branch of UC Riverside, to sharpen their skills. Extension staff works closely with caseworkers from county economic development agencies to match displaced workers who need help with UCR Extension programs that provide retraining or new career paths.

Some newer Extension students are trying to stave off a layoff by increasing their value to their employers, while others have had their hours reduced and are trying to get back to a full-time position, said Sharon Duffy, acting dean of UCR Extension.

“Some are looking for specific skills that would make them more competitive for new jobs,” Duffy said. “Others are seeking greater protection for the jobs they have.”

Teachers whose districts are facing layoffs are turning to UCR Extension to complete credentialing requirements that could mean the difference between continued employment and a pink slip, said Donna S. Saldin, who coordinates such programs.

“Teachers who were always going to get their Cross-cultural Language and Academic Development (CLAD) certification someday are now the ones rushing to get this completed,” Saldin said. “Teaching jobs are scarce, so teachers are doing what they can to market themselves.”

Extension courses are attractive because instructors have the necessary academic credentials and also have extensive experience in the field. Many courses are offered online, which eliminates potential time and location conflicts. Courses are approved by the UCR Academic Senate, and many, such as Project Management and Construction Management, can be completed quickly, often within six weeks of full-time attendance.

“Sometimes people who need to be retrained don’t have a lot of time,” Duffy said.

Art, Religion Benefit
The economy, of course, affects a lot more than just the financial side of life. There also is a ripple effect across other areas of our culture, and not all of it is bad.

For example, the economic downturn could inadvertently lead to more genuine and innovative art, said Tyler Stallings, director of UCR’s Sweeney Art Gallery. If fewer people are buying art because they have less money, artists are more likely to take chances with their work because there is less pressure to produce something marketable.

“Suddenly, when the market is not there, you have to ask yourself what you are really interested in,” Stallings said. “Now there is an opportunity to pull back and look, to pursue that quirky vision.”

Attendance at museums frequently increases during hard times because some facilities, including the Sweeney Art Gallery, offer free admission and others, like the UCR California Museum of Photography, have a low admission fee.

This is especially alluring to families.

“A walk through a gallery is very casual, so a family can come as a group, then split up and look at different works, then come back together to talk about what they have seen,” Stallings said.

Art also helps people process shared experiences. The Sweeney Art Gallery’s recent exhibition, “Your Donations Do Our Work: Andrea Bowers and Suzanne Lacy,” included a drop-off location for clothing and appliances to be used as part of a barter economy established by the artists and Otis College of Art and Design students in Laton, Calif.

One day during the exhibit, which ended March 28, a worker who had been furloughed from her job showed up and worked on preparing goods for distribution.

“The project itself was making a statement on the economy, the idea of creating an alternative economy, a barter economy,” Stallings said. “She (the furloughed worker) was affected by the economy, then came in and worked on the project to create a positive alternative.”

Trying economic times can devastate families, especially those who face losing their homes to foreclosure. But the need to pull together in times of crisis can also strengthen family ties and lead to a re-commitment to one’s faith.

During the Great Depression, families turned to board games, family time around the radio and other pursuits that were either free or cheap, said Jonathan Walton, assistant professor of religious studies.

“This economic crisis may have many parents revisiting the simple pleasures found in community service, spending time with children or committing themselves to their faith communities,” Walton said. “These are things that are not dependent on the markets or the banking industry.”

Such attitudes and activities may have slid to the back burner as home equity soared in the past five years, 401k accounts reached new highs and conspicuous consumption became common. Now many may be reevaluating their lives.

“Times of economic trial allow people to re-prioritize what is important,” Walton said. “Their faith, their family, their moral commitments may not have a dollar figure associated with them, but yet are still valuable resources for one’s personal growth and development.”

Walton hopes that the wrenching nature of the economic crisis — especially job losses and home foreclosures — may create a new level of empathy for the working poor who have suffered from financial uncertainty for years.

“We realize we are not very far removed from the very persons we may have once looked down upon,” Walton said. “One would hope that would foster new levels of understanding and compassion, and that is where faith communities can play a role.”